Editing Climate of India (section)

===Mountain===
[[File:Pangong Tso lake.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Daytime view of a large body of water standing before a prominent peak, which communicates with several others partly out of view and behind. A gravel beach at the far end of the lake gives way to steep slopes leading up to the peaks; The mountains lack trees. Patchy snowcover defines their recesses, and whitish vein-like streaks extend up from the base of the largest.|[[Pangong Tso|Pangong Lake]] in [[Ladakh]], an [[arid]] montane region lying deep within the Himalayas.]]

India's northernmost areas are subject to a montane, or alpine, climate. In the Himalayas, the rate at which an air mass's temperature falls per kilometre (3,281&nbsp;ft) of altitude gained (the [[lapse rate|dry adiabatic lapse rate]]) is 9.8&nbsp;°C/km.{{Sfn|Carpenter|2005}} In terms of [[environmental lapse rate]], ambient temperatures fall by {{Convert|6.5|C-change|1}} for every {{Convert|1000|m|ft|0}} rise in altitude. Thus, climates ranging from nearly tropical in the foothills to tundra above the [[snow line]] can coexist within several hundred metres of each other. Sharp temperature contrasts between sunny and shady slopes, high diurnal temperature variability, temperature inversions, and altitude-dependent variability in rainfall are also common.

The northern side of the western Himalayas, also known as the trans-Himalayan belt, has a [[Desert climate#Cold desert climates|cold desert climate]]. It is a region of barren, arid, frigid  and wind-blown wastelands. Areas south of the Himalayas are largely protected from cold winter winds coming in from the Asian interior. The leeward side (northern face) of the mountains receives less rain.

The southern slopes of the western Himalayas, well-exposed to the monsoon, get heavy rainfall.  Areas situated at elevations of 1,070–2,290 metres (3,510–7,510&nbsp;ft) receive the heaviest rainfall, which decreases rapidly at elevations above {{Convert|2290|m|ft|0}}. Most precipitation occurs as snowfall during the late winter and spring months. The Himalayas experience their heaviest snowfall between December and February and at elevations above {{Convert|1500|m|ft|0}}. Snowfall increases with elevation by up to several dozen millimetres per 100&nbsp;metre (~2&nbsp;in; 330&nbsp;ft) increase. Elevations above {{Convert|6000|m|ft|0}} never experience rain; all precipitation falls as snow.{{Sfn|Singh|Kumar|1997}}

[[File:Fort Bandhavgarh National Park Madhya Pradesh India.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Daytime view of a small marshy lake surrounded by dry brush in winter. Behind the lake in the far-middle distance, a large stand of trees interposes itself in front of a lone massif in the far distance. The sun is out of view to the left.|A winter scene in [[Bandhavgarh National Park]], Madhya Pradesh.]]